Door operator



J. F. OCONNOR DooR OPERATOR Feb. 8, 1927. 1,6165755 Original Filed March20, 1922 s s s W i J Eg Y Patented Feb. s, 1927.

'UNITED STATES' PATENT oFFIcE.

JOHN IF. OCONNOR, OF CHICAGO, IIIJINOIS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNEASSIGNMENTS,` TO W. BI. MINER, INC., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

DOOR OPERATOR.

Application iled March 26, 1922, Serial No. 545,029. Renewed .Tune 3,1926.

This invention relates to improvements in door operators.

On certain railroads., the-practice has been adopted of employing whatare known as f) containers for the transporting .of vinail andhigh-grade freight, the shippers loading said containers and thecontainers then being trucked to a special car and a number of suchcontainers placed on each car, .the mail l or goods being delivered tothe proper consignee in the said containers. Such contamers, in order toavoid excessive weight, are preferably made of sheet steel to resist theservice conditions and each'container is .15 provided -with a relatively,large door to permit loading and unloadingv ofl comparatively largepackages. Obviously, such containers which are exposed to the weather onthe special flat bottom car, must be weatherproof around the doorijoints as well as elsewhere and to accomplish this result, it is'necessary to employ insulation at the joints, such as used for instancein refrigerator cars for a similar purpose. To obtain an el'ecl tivevinsulated joint, considerable pressure must be exerted in forcing thedoor to fully closed position tQ overcome the resistance offered bytheinsulation to the closing movement. The doors of the containers referredv to, being of sheet metal and of comparatively large size, arenecessarily subject to considerable bending strains tending warp them'while -being moved to fully closed posi* tionand also while beingopened, on acv 35 count of the resistance afforded by lthe insulationaround the joints, above referred to. -An "object of my invention is toprcffide an arrangement which. is especially adapted for the closing vofthe doors of such containers or other relatively large doors of lightconstruction, requiring considerable pressure in forcing the door tofully closed position and in opening the same, my improvements beingdesigned to eliminate warping or buckling of the doors during theclosing and. opening movements thereof.

n 4In the drawing forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is anelevational view `of a portion of a container such as herein referredto, and showing my improvements in connection withthe dbor thereof.Figure 2 is an enlarged horizontal sectional view,cor respondingsubstantially to the section line vertical, sectional' view,correnonding sub- 2-2 of Figure 1. Figure 3 is an enlarged,

stantially to the section line 3-3 of Figure 2. And Figure 4 is a detailhorizontal, sectional view, corresponding .to the Section line 4-.4 ofFigure 1.

In said drawing, the main body of the container is indicated at 10, thesame having a door 'opening defined by lintel 11, jambs 12 and `13 andthreshold 14. The door opening isadapted to be closed by a relativelylarge preferably sheet metal door 15 pivoted along one vertical edge asindicated at 16--16. As will be lunderstood by those skilled. in theart, the joints around the door are insulated, details of suchinsulation being illustrated in Figure 2, whereit will be noted that thedoor jamb 13 has secured'tothe inner side thereof a Z-bar 17 on whichissecured a longitudinally extending block of wood 18. The 'latter isprovided with a longitudinally eX- tending recess 19 lon kits free facewithin which is mounted a backing strip 20 yieldingly forced outwardlyby a `plurality of longitudinally spaced coil springs 21. The backing'strip 20 is covered by felt 22 and over the latter is placed a strip ofcanvas 23. v'llhe free edge of the door has secured on the inner sidethereof an angle bar 24 forming a backing for a longitudinally extendingvblock of wood 25 having a beveled edge on the free edge of the dooragainstthe weather, the free edge of the sheet metal o f thev door isextended over the joint as indicated at 15a.

For operating the door 15, Ivpreferably employ the followingarrangement. Secured to the door jamb 13 and suitably vertically spacedare two keepers AA. Each of said the door jamb. To protect the joint atkeepers has a main liange 26 riveted orvotherwise rigidly secured to thedoorvjamb, an outwardly extended flange'27and a narrow flange 28 at theouter endi'ofj-llthe flange .27, said'ange 28 being 'spaced /fr'm thewall of .j the container and lproviding an. inwardly.' facing shoulder.A28a for .the purpose hereinafter described,A and ,also an outer shoulderor fulcrum 28", for Ithe purpose hereinafter described. i Mounted on thedoor s the operatin shaft proper, the same co isting prefera 1y o f twoend castings'B- B, an intermediate 'bar' les?? section C, and a lever orhandle D pivoted to the bar section-C. v

Each of theend castings B, as shown, preferably consists of a hollowrectangular section 29 within which is received and riveted thereto acorresponding end of the bar section C as by the rivets 30-30. Each endcasting B is formed also with .a journal section 31 laterally offsetfrom the rectangular securing'section, as Well as being offset endwise.The journal bearings 31 are ro.- tatably mounted in bearing bracketsh32-32 secured to the door 15. Beneath -the journal section 31 of theupper casting land above the journal section 31 of the lower casting B,each casting B is formed with a radially extended flange 33approximately diametrically opposite the rectangular section 29. Saidflanges 33 provide radial shoulders 34adapted .to engage under thecorresponding shoulders 28HL of the keepers A. The flanges 33 arepreferably suitably braced as by integral arcuate ribs 35-35 of suchradius that they will not interfere with the turning of.

the shaft on the door. f

The handle D is adapted to be locked, as

shown in Figure 1, by any suitablelatching device, as indicated at36'and sealed in any suitable manner as customary on railroad cars.'

In the drawings, the full lines indicate the position of the parts lwhenthe door is fully. closed. To open the door, the lever D is releasedfrom the latch 36 and is then pulled outwardly or away from .the door soas ,to-rotate the operating shaft in a counter-clockwise direction, asviewed in Figure'. '2. While the shaft is liotating through an are ofsomewhat less than 1800; it is evident that the flanges 33 of thecastings Bjwill b'e moved a 'sufficient distance as to clear the` edgesfthe keepers 'A when the door is opened, During this portion of therOta-.

lines inFigure 2v and thereafter, as the operating shaft is rotated, thekeepers A act as fulcrums and the door is 'forcibly pulled `outwardlyagainst the'resistance a'orded by the dotted the insulation. Asindicated b lines in Figure 2, thereis amp e space left, after therivets engage the keepers A, to permit the continued swinging of thelever D sufficient to disengage the door from the insulation and afterwhich the door may, of

course, be. freely opened to its fullest extent. p In closlng the door,the latter is moved towards closed position as far as possible I and theshaft is then rotated in a clockwise dlrectlon', as viewed in Figure 2,with the flanges 33 and shoulders 34 thereof engaging under theshoulders 28, As the rotayshoulder on the shaft is adapted to engagetion continues, it is evident that the keepers A again act as fulcrums,and the door may be forcibly moved to fully closed position.

Byemploying an intermediate section of bar material, as shown, it isevident that the length of the operating shaft may be varied as desiredwithout increase of expense for different castings or tools.Furthermore, by locating the keepers and cooperating parts of theoperating shaft as shown 76 in Figure 1, I am enabled to apply thepressure for closing and opening in such a way as to substantiallyeliminate any tendency of the door to warp or. buckle while at thesametime leaving the operating handle v80 D sufliciently low to beconvenient to the operator.

I have herein shown and described what I now consider the preferredmanner of carrying out the invention, but the same is 85 merelyillustrative and I contemplate all changes andmodificationsthat comeWithin tle scope of the claims appended hereto.

I claim: c

1'. In a member having a door opening 90 and a door to `close saidopening the combination with an operating shaft arranged parallel to anedge of the door` and provided with va shoulder extending approximatelyradially; of bearing' brackets within which/U5 the ends ofsaid shaft arerotatably mounted; and a keeper having arr opposed shoulderproviding anabutment to hold the keeper engaging theend of the shoulder onl doorvand rotatably mounted thereon, said shaft having an operating handleand a shoulder projecting substantially radially therefrom; of a cooeratingkeeper mounted on the correspon( ing door jamb between theJ topand bottom ledges "of the door, said keeper having a shoulder outwardlyspaced from the door jamb and beneath which said and be held againstswinging movement in moving the door to closed position.

3.111- a member having a door opening and a pivotally mounted door toclose the opening, the combination with a vshaft rotatably journaled a'tits top and bottom ends 0f said. door, remote from the top and bottomedges of the latter and extending parallel to and adjacent the free edgethereof, o said shaft having inwardly of said journaled ends,longitudinally spaced shoulders substantially radially extendingtherefrom on one side of the axis of the shaft; and cooperating keeperssecured to lthe corresponding adjacent door jamb, said keepersfhavlmovedto closed position.

4. In a member lhaving a door opening and a pivotally mounted door toclose said opening, the combination with an operating shaft rotatablymounted on said door, said shaft extending arallel to and adjacent thefree edge thereof, said shaft comprising two end castingsand anintermediate connecting bar section, each of said end castingsbeing/frmed with a substantially radially projecting shoulder and ajournal projecting beyond said shoulder, said journal being coaxial withsaid bar; of keepers secured to the corresponding adjacent door jamb,each of said keepers having an inwardly facing shoulder'cooperable Withthe corresponding shoulder of the operating shaft to arrest theYmovement of the outer ends of said shoulders on said shaft and provide afulcrum therefor.,

5. In a'member having a door opening and a door to close said opening,the combination with an operating shaft arranged parallel to an edge ofthe door, said shaft being provided with shoulders extending from theopposite sides of the axis of rotation thereof; and a cooperating keeperhavin inner and outer shoulders, said inner shou derof the keepercooperating with one of the shoulders of the operating shaft to providea stationary fnlcrum in forcing the door to closed position, and theouter shoulder of the keeper cooperating with the other shoulderedportion of the shaft when opening the door.

6. In combination with a member having a door opening and a pivotallymount-ed door, an yoperating mechanism for the door comprising: anoperating shaft extending parallel to and adjacent the vfree edge of thedoor and rotatably mounted on the door, said operating shaft havingshouldered portions extending from opposite sides of the axis ofrotation1 of the shaft; and a keeper secured to t@ correspondingadjacent door jamb, said keeper `having an inwardly facing shoulderspaced from the door j amb and an outwardly facing shoulder cooperablerespectively 'with the shoulders of the shaft.

7. In a; container having a pivotally mounted door, the combination witha pair of keepers mounted on the door jamb ad-v tending parallel to andadjacent the free edge of the door, said shaft comprising end castingsand an intermediate connecting sec-Z tion, each of said .end castingshaving a substantially radially extending shoulder on one side of theaxis of the shaft and a shouldered portion on the opposite side of 'saidaxis, the former being adapted to engagebeneath the inwardly facingshoulder of the corresponding keeper, and the-latter to engage with theoutwardly facing shoulder on the corresponding keeper, when the shaft isrotated to close and open the door, respectively.

8. In a member having a door opening and a pivotally mounted door toclose said opening, `the combination with a rotary shaft mounted on saiddoor adjacent the free edge thereof, said shafthaving its opposite ends'disposed inwardly of the top and bottom edges of said door; of operatingmeans for said shaft; a plurality of keepers supported independently ofsaid door and disposed between the top and bottom boundaries of saiddoor opening; and means on said shaft also disposed between the top andbottom edges of said door adapted to engage said. keepers, said keepersand said means being arranged in co-acting relation to eect' movement ofsaid door upon said shaft being rotated.

9. In an operating mechainsm having a pivoted door member adapted toclose against another door member, the combil nation with a rotary shaftmounted on one of said members; of a plurality of keepers fixed to theother member; a lever for operating said sha-ft; and means on saidshaft, rotatable therewith, adapted to engage said keepers said meansand said keepers having c-acting parts arranged to forcibly eectmovements of said doors, said shaft, keepers and means being disposedentirely above the bottom margin of the door and door opening.

10. In a member having a door opening and a pivotally mounted door, thecombination with a rotary shaft mounted on said door adjacent the freeedge thereof, said shaft having opposite end portions, one of which isdisposed inwardly of the top and bottom edges of lsaid door; ofoperating means for said shaft; a plurality of spaced keepers supportedindependently of said door," one of said keepers being arranged betweenthe top and bottom boundaries of said door opening; and spaced means ensaid shaft, one of which is disposed between the top and bottom edges ofsaid door, .said means being adapted to engage said keepers to effectmovement of said door upon rotation of said shaft. j

In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my namethis 10th day of March, 1922.

JOHN F. OCONNOR.

